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Season Preview; AFC North


Kiwibrown

Who wins the North  

31 members have voted

  1. 1. the North- who wins it

    • Pittsburgh Steelers
    • Baltimore Ravens
    • Cleveland Browns
    • Cincinnati Bengal's
  2. 2. Who is last place finish



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I thought I might make a preview for each division before the season starts, depending on its success ill make some more. 
analysis is only intended to be superficial. 

The Steelers

drafted Nagee Harris  in the 1st, and they lost OT Alejandro Villanueva to the Baltimore Ravens 2 year / $14 million

The Ravens 

drafted Bateman Wr and Oweh pass rusher in the 1st round and they lost a large number of players, including Orlando Brown a strong offensive lineman, and have lost  their starting runningback to an Achilles injury also. 

 

The Browns

The browns drafted Greg Newsome CB in the 1st and lost Olivier Vernon to Achilles injury/rehab, a number of defenders 

The Bengals 

The Bengals drafted Ja'Marr Chase WR in the 1st round, who last played with Joe Burrow as his QB at LSU, they a number of strong players, John Ross, AJ Green, Carl Lawson, and William Jackson the 3rd. 

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I think the division will be pretty competitive again.    I trust the Ravens the most, although if everything clicks for the Browns, they might be the most complete team.   Steelers have enough talent to be in the mix, despite OLine and secondary being major question marks.  Bengals just have too many questions, despite looking better on paper.

Barring injuries under the new 17 game schedule...

Ravens -  10 to 13 wins

Browns -  9 to 12 wins

Steelers -  8 to 11 wins

Bengals -  5 to 8 wins (unless Burrow has a huge breakout year, in which case I could see 10 wins as the ceiling)

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I think Ravens are probably the favorite at this point, with both the Steelers and Browns certainly capable of winning the division.

Not trying to hate on the Bengals, but I think it's fair to say they would be the biggest shock to win the division at this point. 

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I think this year it’s pretty open, lots of questions for each team. 
 

gun to my head, I’d say Browns win the division.  But it wouldn’t surprise me to see 3 playoff teams from this division. 
 

I think the Ravens are having the injury bug hit their offense pretty hard. The Steelers always play better than they look on paper. And if Burrow takes the expected 2nd year QB jump the Bengals could shock. 

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4 hours ago, SBLIII said:

I got the Ravens. They are flying a bit under the radar right now.

Not sure how they are "below the radar".   Most are picking them to win the AFCN and they are widely considered a top AFC team, only behind KC and Buffalo.

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I have absolutely no idea what to expect from Pittsburgh. I feel like their fans don’t know either.

 

Gut feeling says trust Tomlin to figure out a way to win, but even Belichick proved it doesn’t matter how great you are if your QB play isn’t up to par. I could easily see Ben falling off a cliff.

 

That front 7 will make them competitive in every game. However, they could be like Chicago where eventually your defense just doesn’t have the energy to carry a team all season.

Edited by candyman93
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Zac Taylor is very arguably the worst coach in football IMO so it’s really hard to see the Bengals above 6/7 wins. Barring a major injury from one of the other 3 have to slot them last.

Would handicap the division chances for the other 3

Browns 40%/Ravens 35%/Steelers25%

The 2 Ravens/Browns games could very well decide the division and they both happen in a span of 3 weeks - week 12 and week 14.

Between the two Ravens/Browns games the Ravens play @ Pittsburgh and the Browns get their bye week. Could very well be the edge that decides the division.

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Bengals are a complete wild card, I could see arguments anywhere from 4 to 11 wins be believable if things break good or bad for them.  I think they surprise some people and are more in the 8-10 win range, largely thanks to much better oline depth and a new scheme behind the returning Frank Pollack replacing the human garbage known as Jim Turner at oline coach.

Steelers have a great defense that will keep them in most games, and are very talented at the skill positions, but that oline is mighty suspect and a returning oft-injured 39 year old Ben Roethlisberger doesn't inspire much confidence for their QB play for me.  I could see Ben having a good start, but he's going to break down, he never kept himself nearly as healthy and dedicated as someone like Brady does, or even Brees for that matter.  I think they are a middle of the pack team that I could see sneaking into the playoffs, but barring their defense giving a top 5 all time performance like the 2000 Ravens, they aren't a serious contender.

Ravens are pretty legit and my pick to win the division again as long as they stay relatively healthy in the key spots.

Browns have probably the most complete team, but I don't trust Baker when all the chips are on the table and the pressure is on.

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People talk about Baker, but I’m way more worried about our lack of pass rush outside of Myles Garrett.

 

Clowney could be that extra guy and let’s say he is, who the heck else can we trust to get us 5-7 sacks?

 

I think we will be better against the run than people realize though.

Edited by candyman93
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With Baltimore's recent woes at RB, I think Cleveland nudges ahead of them.  Those two will probably duke it out for the #3 AFC seed, with the loser the #5 seed.  

The Bengals will either be a huge surprise (thinking 9-10 wins) or just fall flat, then the coaching staff will be changed.

Everyone has a bad season.  Seems like Pitt, with a declining Ben, will finally have Tomlin having his, albeit Pitt's idea of a bad season is like 7-10 or 8-9.  But if they don't fall off the wagon, do they have a shot at getting Ben's replacement in round one next year?

 

1.  Cleveland 12-5

2.  Ravens  11-6

3.  Bengals 9-8

4.  Pitt  8-9

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